July 15, 2010
Pascal Chaumeil directs an awesome cast in this funny, absurdist story about Alex Lippi, an arch-seducer who goes on covert missions with his team, his sister Mélanie, played by the amusing Julie Ferrier, and her beloved husband Marc, played perfectly by the comic François Damiens. The team is paid thousands by the anxious friends and relations of tied-down women to split couples up; not, as Alex says, to break hearts, but to liberate women from unhappy relationships by making them see that they deserve better. There really are all sorts of recession-busting jobs out there as long as you are a little imaginative.
It was refreshing to see Romain Duris play Alex in a film that moves away from the French preference for deep, dour films, such as the 2008 release Paris in which he plays an ill, introspective brother. It was even surprising to see him act comedy so naturally and effectively: his stage-crying made the cinema chortle, but the pièce de résistance, his lithe funking-out to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, had everyone in hysterics. His innocent face, dark features, wiry frame and dodgy teeth make him the perfect Romeo, sensitive and unthreatening. Thus when he is put on a mission to seduce the mysterious Juliette Van Der Becq, Vanessa Paradis, we are led to think only that he can and must succeed.
From their first meeting there is chemistry, but since Alex is a professional seducer who has honed his skill to a science, this can only be expected. The film then flings us around with Alex as he discovers that he is not as expert as he once thought and that there is a very fine line between work and play. Duris and Paradis keep us on tenterhooks right until the very last moments of the film, I really could not tell how on earth the mess was going to be cleaned up.
Chaumeil’s film is not a regular romantic comedy. From the outset, the strange camera angles and puzzling plot make the story original and enthralling. What is more, just as Alex’s seduction techniques become predictable and slightly nauseating, and you start shifting in your seat anxious to make it clear that not all women are liable to be seduced by some put-on tears and self-effacing male chat-up lines, Paradis enters with characteristic presence and self-control, and whilst all the cast deserve a degree of praise, I cannot wait for Paradis’ imminent flurry of films to be released.
It was refreshing to see Romain Duris play Alex in a film that moves away from the French preference for deep, dour films, such as the 2008 release Paris in which he plays an ill, introspective brother. It was even surprising to see him act comedy so naturally and effectively: his stage-crying made the cinema chortle, but the pièce de résistance, his lithe funking-out to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, had everyone in hysterics. His innocent face, dark features, wiry frame and dodgy teeth make him the perfect Romeo, sensitive and unthreatening. Thus when he is put on a mission to seduce the mysterious Juliette Van Der Becq, Vanessa Paradis, we are led to think only that he can and must succeed.
From their first meeting there is chemistry, but since Alex is a professional seducer who has honed his skill to a science, this can only be expected. The film then flings us around with Alex as he discovers that he is not as expert as he once thought and that there is a very fine line between work and play. Duris and Paradis keep us on tenterhooks right until the very last moments of the film, I really could not tell how on earth the mess was going to be cleaned up.
Chaumeil’s film is not a regular romantic comedy. From the outset, the strange camera angles and puzzling plot make the story original and enthralling. What is more, just as Alex’s seduction techniques become predictable and slightly nauseating, and you start shifting in your seat anxious to make it clear that not all women are liable to be seduced by some put-on tears and self-effacing male chat-up lines, Paradis enters with characteristic presence and self-control, and whilst all the cast deserve a degree of praise, I cannot wait for Paradis’ imminent flurry of films to be released.